It seems we finally found a way to balance the pain meds with the amount of fiber to eat, and so I'm not constantly feeling painfully bloated any more. I'm up and walking every 2 hours for about 5 minutes at a time, without my walker. I still need my walker to get in and out of bed, and if I walk for more than 5 minutes I get very tired. I'm giving myself little goals of increasing the walking time by a minute every 2 or 3 days. I am also able to go up and down the stairs, but I'm only doing that 2 times a day right now, and have to go very slowly. Sitting up is hard, but I am trying to sit up for all my meals now (partly because I was tired of spilling everything on myself; try eating cereal while lying flat on your back, it's not as easy as it looks) but I am only able to sit for about 5 minutes without any support. I can sit up a little longer if I'm propped up at an angle with pillows, but this is not very comfortable yet.

Rib Hump

My pain seems to go up and down throughout the day, and it changes intensity often. I can feel different parts of my back "waking up" and that can be very painful. Up until a few days ago, my entire back was numb, except for an aching pain. Now I can feel the rods, as well as sharp, shooting pains that run around my shoulders. There is a lot of burning feeling too, but all these pains are part of the healing process. All the nerves running down my back were severed when I had the surgery, and that's why it was numb for a while. Now the nerves are healing, and the tingling, shooting and burning are just the nerves coming back to life. The worst pain is a deep aching pain where my rib hump used to be. (A rib humpresults from the rib cage rotating along with the spine, altering the contour of the ribs. That rotation causes a "hump" either in the lumbar or thoracic region.) I have a completely flat back now, with no rotation or hump, but the muscles are all in different places and the pain results from all the manipulation of those muscles.

I haven't been able to cut down on the pain pills at all yet, but that's very normal for this surgery. Some people don't even start cutting back until the 3 month mark, so I'm giving myself a lot of slack in that area. If I cut back before I'm ready, the pain will keep me from doing the sleeping and walking that I need to do to get my strength up.

I am sleeping a lot better the last three nights, after I asked my dr. for a sleeping pill. I was having a hard time falling back to sleep after I woke up for my mid-night doses, and was really struggling during the day. After getting the sleeping pills, I am now able to wake up and fall back to sleep with no problems. Sleep is such a big part of this recovery, I could see an immediate improvement once I was able to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time.

So, all in all, I'm doing very well and feel very blessed that my recovery is currently uneventful and boring. I have my first post-op appointment tomorrow, and will get my first look at my new back from the inside. I'll be sure to take a picture so you all can see the change too!

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Welcome to my journey...

This blog was created so that my family and friends, near and far, would be able to come along with me as I embarked on a life changing decision. Scoliosis affects 5-7 million people in the United States, and I am one of them. Diagnosed at age 12, I have been battling this strange and insidious deformity for many years.

There is no cure for scoliosis, and surgery does not "fix" my spine, but it prevents my curves from progressing. On December 2nd, 2010, I decided to have this massive surgery. And on December 27th, 2010, I had the surgery.

What began as a blog for friends and family has turned into the website I wish I had found years ago when I first started having my problems. I hope it is a source of information, encouragement and hope...